1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to multimedia communications and, more particularly, to a network for providing a means of enabling on-demand broadband access to specialized web page content.
2. Description of the Related Art
A public packet switched network such as the World Wide Web generally cannot provide the bandwidth necessary for multimedia communications requiring broadband connections. Web traffic is slow, and access is limited to specific languages and protocols such as HTML, FTP, etc. Moreover, even with these limitations, web providers cannot easily provide bandwidth-differentiated services to different customers.
Application Ser. No. 08/966,634 (application Ser. No. 08/966,634), commonly owned by the present assignee, dramatically advanced the state of the art. The present invention leverages the capabilities of application Ser. No. 08/966,634 in new and useful ways. In particular, the present application allows a broadband network user to access a web page with a hot button for on-demand broadband web access.
The present invention aims at allowing a user to request a broadband connection by means of a hot button available from an internet site to overcome limitations of slow transmissions in a public packet switched network.
The present invention aims at allowing a user to request a broadband connection by means of a hot button available from an internet site, where the hot button request provides a destination field for addressing a web host and an annotation field for identifying associated user software.
The present invention aims at allowing a user to request a broadband connection by means of a hot button available from an internet site, where a corresponding web host can provide bandwidth-differentiated services to users making such requests.
These objects and advantages are fulfilled according to the present invention by a method that allows a user to access a hot button available from an internet site. Accessing the hot button makes a request for a switched broadband connection from a control system associated with a broadband network. The control system allocates resources for the broadband connection and coordinates a request with the web host. Accordingly, the web host is capable of providing bandwidth-differentiated services to users making such requests.